Crafting, fun and friendship

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Congratulations, Julia, on hosting this most marvellous of online gatherings for the past 5 years. It's such fun to be part of and you do a tremendous job of keeping us crafters linked up (it must be like herding cats sometimes!) Long may it continue :-)

(PS Thanks to Kyla for providing the inky mitts for the first 'W' above at last Saturday's crop!!)

There are loads of crop pics in my previous post and even more in a Photobox account I've created. If you want to see that, email me and I'll send the link and password xx Thank you to everyone who supported my stand at the Crop too - not sure what the final total was, Julia will let us know soon :-)

The ATC's have been arriving thick and fast and it was great to swap at the crop too (though I did lavender pillow ATC's for that as I'd already peaked paperwise..... ;-) )

Eliza's ATC came with a beautiful card and matching envelope, Bella's came with a great card and some amazing printed fabric cutlery envelopes (via Ali H) and Debbie (Tattered Rocks) had made beautiful tags to hand out to everyone at the Crop. THANK YOU ladies, they're all fantastic and much appreciated! The thoughtfulness and generosity of WOYWWers should be bottled...it would do the world good!

Sam (Hettiecraft) made me this amazing leather bound notebook....it is stunning. I wish this blog had smell-o-vision, cos it smells gorgeous! (and yes, I've kept the tissue paper, like any good crafter would. lol!)

Just ready to sketch and write in....look at those floral end papers too, very Florentine I thought. Sam, it's gorgeous and I shall treasure it...and there's a bed again next time if you want it :-)

It has been so crazy this week that there is no desk pic to show but I have raided my yarn stash and this is the next project ready to get underway! Watch this space........

Wow, what a party that was.....!! I'm looking forward to seeing who my Anniversary Swap Partner is :-)

Have a wonderful week, you lovely people xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Only three days to go until the Crop - but they are sure going to be action packed....

Shopping, cooking, setting up.

But it'll all be worth it when the Deskers arrive on Saturday morning :-)

I've been making one last bag - I saw this fabric in my fav shop in Marlborough and had to buy a metre...you know, just to try it :-)

I think it's my favourite so far....in fact, I've already got an order for one plus the other for the Crop, so I'm just going to have to go back to get some more to make one for ME!!

Look at the state of that....dreadful! Shaz Silverwolf and her hubby are supposed to be in this room at the weekend, so I decided to have an hour sorting out!

So, all the fabric is being folded and stashed in the RUB....

Oooh, how pleasing is that? Well, it makes me happy anyway!

That's it because this week has been bonkers with both sons taking exams, the band has been busy and the beautiful weather has meant a little light gardening (flame throwers may or may not have been used....)

But I wanted to finish with someone else's work.

Lily, who is a young friend of mine, has been doing textiles at school. This is what she made....

How amazing is this dragon?? Lily is only in Year 8...( that's 12-13 years old for non UK readers). I wish I could have been this good at the same age! I predict further advances in textiles....maybe even making it her career one day.

Have a great week - and I'll apologise in advance for the copious Crop photos in the next post!!

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

AND MORE, MUCH MORE THAN THIS, I DID IT MY WAY..............!As Julia will tell you, I can be a little stubborn at times :-) This can manifest itself in many ways - for example, I hardly ever stick to a recipe; I like to navigate from a map and view Satnav as an irritation which I yearn to chuck out of the window. Sewing patterns? I usually do my own thing. Pins for example, I almost never use them - in fact, I'm a proud member of the Non-Pinners of the World Unite movement *grin*

But there are times when I recognise that not using them would be stupid...and this is one of them. I've constructed the exterior of the mini tote and now need to insert the lining. I have learnt the hard way (!!) that fabric can be a slippery little b*7%*r and now pin the lining in all the way round. Bain't be natural, I tell 'ee.....but it saves a lot of cussing and blue air if I do it.I hate conforming..........

The finished tote, ready for the Crop sales table :-)

So are these......

And these! Now to cut out some desk tidies.......

This is the bunting I couldn't show you last week, but I know it's been received now. It was for Jackie ScrapBangWallop's new grandaughter, Lara :-)Occasionally you see something on the desks that really grabs you and such has been the case with Morag (Paper Rainbow). She is a comparatively new desker but goodness, her work speaks to me. So much so that I bought one of her pieces!

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

I was getting bunting withdrawal symptoms - haven't made any for ages! I can't show you the finished item yet as I know that the recipient reads this blog :-)

I had a fabric lapse.....oh dearie me. But those spots are perfect for bag linings and I needed more owls and then that silvery grey fabric 'spoke' to me....oh yes it did :-) The spots are 100% cotton but with a linen finish - it's gorgeous fabric and £4.95 a metre in Fabricland. I cut a square metre very carefully to maximise what I can get out of it!!

I just had to dive straight into the grey fabric - here's a tote just on the point of final assembly. I might have to keep this one....grin!

My old maths teacher, Miss Phillips, would be so proud if she saw that I had to use geometry to work out the ratio of the circumference to the edge of the rectangle. And all to make some desk bins for the Crop, lol! Inserting a circular bottom into a cylinder is one of the trickier sewing things I do....

A couple more mini totes (these were done last week, gotta be honest!)

Right then, the reason for today's lyric.

I didn't realise, until I became a brass player 8 years ago, that occasionally a brass instrument has to have a clean out. After all, you're breathing into it all the time and 'water' - ok, SPIT! - collects. So, you need to clean it out. Now this is easy peasy with cornets up to baritones, they're manageable. But a bass??

Reclining in the tub - do ya think I put in too much washing up liquid??

Draining outside - it's at this point that you're trying to remember what went where!!

But then the fun started, I thought I'd use my steam cleaner to really get in all the nooks and crannies.....

We had such fun pointing the jet down one tube and guessing where the steam was going to emerge!! It wasn't always obvious. So this is how we turn a bass into a reciprocating steam engine...grin.

And just in case you're worried, all the bits went back in ok, I played it at practice....and no bubbles came out of the bell. Yay :-)